The Game Trust at E3

So the Rock Band/Harmonix suite that Alex Rigopulos invited colleague Scott Alexander and me up to? (I’d mentioned it last week in a previous post.)

Last Tuesday night Evan Narcisse, Gus “Wonder Beard” Mastrapa,” along with Libe Goad and Robin Yang from AOL/Game Daily and Dan “Dr. Sideburns” Ackerman from CNET all reported to the Wilshire Grand and took the elevator up to the top floor. We listened for the muted sounds of someone warbling his way through “Black Hole Sun,” and knew the suite had to be close by.

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As E3 fades in the CG staff’s rearview mirror, a few stories, anecdotes, and moments continue to haunt my waking thoughts. “Haunt” is a particularly appropriate word when talking about Epic’s VP Mark Rein and his pink shirt. (more…)

So E3 2008 is finished. Some booths, sadly, began inexplicably shutting down early on Thursday afternoon, hours before the show was even officially over. It was as if some developers and publishers couldn’t flee the L.A. Convention Center fast enough. De-bug units were boxed up. Plugs were pulled on the plasmas. The coolers filled with Diet Pepsi were carted off.

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So I’ve been hitting the hay pretty early this week, keeping my old-man hours, and trying to stay off the E3 party circuit (and stay off the sauce; seems Uncle Crispy has a bit of a tippling problem).

But last night, I simply could not say no to the Harmonix/MTV Rock Band soiree at the Orpheum.

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Yesterday I wandered bleary-eyed from appointment to appointment, my energy reserves failing. I quaffed lukewarm Pepsis in an effort to keep going. Konami. Ubisoft. Valve.

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Dear Sony,

Hello!

Thank you for inviting us to your press conference at the famous Shrine Auditorium yesterday on the USC campus.

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Dear Nintendo,

Thank you for inviting us to your press conference yesterday morning.

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Yesterday while trying not to throw up my breakfast during the Nintendo press conference, I peered over a nearby journalist’s shoulder as he frantically tapped away on his laptop, apparently attempting to live-blog each and every moment of the presser for his faithful readers.

During the demo for Animal Crossing: City Folk, the journo typed out these words:

“City seem to have scrolling feel.”

Let me repeat that one more time: City seem to have scrolling feel.

Shakespeare: Look out!

One of my favorite things about E3, in addition to the Breakfast Burgers at Carl’s Jr., is the license I’m giving to “woo” as loud as I possibly can during the press conferences.

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Yesterday colleague Scott “Dr. Playboy” Alexander and I were passing through the lobby of the Wilshire Grand–which, come to think of it, isn’t especially grand–when I said to him, “In my next life, I want to come back as Alex Rigopulos. That guy just has it all.”

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Whenever my mother wanted me to take a pill—I was a very sickly child, always in need of pills and shots and heating pads–she’d attempt to hide it inside some apple sauce.

Which is basically what Microsoft tried to do Monday morning at their press conference.

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Rule number one for L.A.: Never ask people who live here where the subway is.

You didn’t know there was a subway here? Well, there is. And it’s actually not bad, even by New York-standards.

For the very reasonable price of $1.25, you get to ride it. It operates on some kind of honor system. Meaning you can always gets on the train and not buy the $1.25 ticket, but if one of the Gestapo-like ticket checkers happens to pass through your train car, they’ll happily write up a far more expensive ticket for you.

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First thing I do when I arrive at the front desk of my E3 hotel is ask, “Is there a Carl’s, Jr. close by?”

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We’re here. Well, I’m here. And Gus is here. Fudge? He’s out. Came down with a mysterious virus that makes people bear an uncanny resemblance to Don “They massacred my boy” Corleone.

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